​One in three in France on psychotropic medication – study

A study by France’s National Drug Safety Agency (ANSM) found that one third of French people were taking and at times misusing antidepressants, mood stabilizers and other psychotropic drugs, prompting fresh warnings by health experts.

The report by ANSM, carried by Le Parisien Tuesday, found that 32
percent of French citizens were using psychotropic medication,
such as antipsychotics, antidepressants, ADHD drugs, anti-anxiety
medications and mood stabilizers.

Many of the psychoactive drugs prescribed in France have severe
side effects. For example many anti-depressants cause high blood
pressure, an increased risk of developing diabetes and suicidal
thoughts.

Professor Bernard Begaud told Le Parisien that it was
“incomprehensible” that nothing is being done to reduce
the rate at which these drugs are used in France.

“It is a matter of urgency because there is a real public
health problem,” he said.

The way the drugs are taken by patients is also a cause for
concern, with many patients combining them with other
medications.

A study by Cetipharm, which was also quoted in Le Parisien, found
that 230,000 people in France were mixing psychotropic drugs with
other non-compatible medication and endangering their health in
the process.

“It is in France that psychotropic drugs are the most heavily
consumed, but also the most misused. The public, too, must be
informed that no, these drugs are not trivial,” AFP quoted
Begaud as saying.

France apparently suffers from high rates of depression, although
Professor Begaud said that inadequate doctor training and
overzealous prescribing of the drugs by doctors was also to
blame.

A survey carried out by Ipsos on behalf of the French Hospital
Federation, which was also released this week, found that 84
percent of patents think doctors hand out unnecessary medication.

The problem of overdependence on prescription medication is not
only a French problem. A study published last year found that the
use of antidepressants across Europe had increased by 20 percent
between 1995 and 2009. Sweden had the highest increase of 59
percent, while France saw a more modest rise of 5 percent.

The relatively low increase in France is due to the fact that the
nation was already addicted to prescription drugs.

A book published in 2012 by Guy Hugnet found that up to 15
million people in France were using psychotropic drugs.

Hugnet writes that the French have a blind faith in pills and
will visit several doctors to make sure they have enough.

“Often, these people are taking a mixture of medication.
People don’t talk about it as in France medicine is a religion
that cannot be questioned,” Hugnet told the Telegraph.